October 1, 2012 Monday Night RAW
The October 1, 2012 Edition of RAW is a Professional wrestling television show of the WWE's RAW brand, which took place on October 1, 2012 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Episode summary WWE Champion CM Punk and Paul Heyman demanded an apology from Raw General Manager AJ Lee The Voice of the Voiceless, CM Punk, took to the airwaves as Raw began, throwing accusations of cowardice in the general direction of both John Cena and Mick Foley. Punk condemned them for their actions the previous week (Cena for battering Punk with a lead pipe while the WWE Champion's back was turned and Foley for a perceived act of disrespect in the locker room area as Raw went to black). While The Second City Saint showed little to no remorse for his attack on The Hardcore Legend in the locker room, he did say that Mrs. Foley's Baby Boy managed to reach Punk with his impassioned plea to face John Cena at Hell in a Cell for the WWE Title. That said, he must not have reached the WWE Champion all too well, because despite Foley's "eloquent" speech, the match was still not going to happen. With that business settled, The Voice of the Voice of the Voiceless, Paul Heyman, was next to step up to the mic. He took Raw General Manager AJ Lee to task for striking him last week following the mad scientist's marriage proposal and called for her termination as GM for violating a previous edict by the WWE Board of Directors preventing AJ from putting her hands on any competitors, managers or the like ever again. And who would fill the power void left by Miss Lee's hypothetical removal from power? Paul Heyman. Vickie Guerrero, however, was not having it. Flanked by Dolph Ziggler, the "Queen Diva" strode to the ring with great purpose and made her case for assuming the GM position. Jaw-jacking followed, which left The Showoff to assume the unlikely role of peacekeeper: What if, Ziggler posed, Vickie and Heyman were to team up as Co-GMs following AJ's potential ouster. This left AJ no choice but to make her presence known, revealing to her assembled, would-be usurpers that the Board of Directors had placed her on probation, and she had hired an "Executive Coach" to help her through an evaluation period. Which promptly brought out ... Daniel Bryan? Yes (yes, yes, yes), Team Hell No's bearded technical maven stormed down to the ring, somehow managing between his apoplectic screams of "NO!" to assert that AJ's issues have been compounded by her dumping at the hands of Bryan following his WrestleMania loss. Bryan nefariously twiddled his beard as he extolled his own physical virtues ("I AM HANDSOME!!!!") and championship acumen ("I'M THE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!!!"). This brought out Kane, who tossed a compliment AJ's way ("she is a phenomenal kisser!") before correcting one of Bryan's points: that Kane, not Bryan, was the Tag Team Champions. Chaos followed, with Kane, Bryan, Ziggler, Punk, Vickie and Heyman all screaming over each other before AJ regained control of the masses. "This is my show," seethed the boss lady, decreeing that the night's main event would be Punk & Ziggler facing the WWE Tag Team Champions, Team Hell No. Brodus Clay vs Antonio Cesaro How do you say "wow!" in five different languages? Because that's precisely what the WWE Universe was left saying when U.S. Champion Antonio Cesaro collided with The Funkasaurus, Brodus Clay, in a fast and furious match that saw the powerful polyglot deal a rare loss to The Funky One. The difference-maker, as it turned out, was Cesaro's pure power when, after a furious back-and-forth that saw Cesaro take flight with a springboard elbow, the champion wrenched the massive Brodus up for the Neutralizer. Cesaro kept Clay airborne a few seconds for good measure before pummeling The Funkasaurus face-first into the canvas, notching a three-count and putting big Brodus down for the week. Sacre bleu! Beth Phoenix vs Eve Torres If you can't get it done in the boardroom, it's time to bring the fight to the squared circle. After attempting (and failing) to suspend Beth Phoenix on SmackDown last Friday, Divas Champion Eve took to the ring against The Glamazon to settle their differences the old-fashioned way: a one-on-one contest between the ropes. Happily for Eve, it went much better than her administrative attempt to remove The Glamazon, as she picked up a big win over Beth in Chesapeake Energy Arena. The contest was evenly matched for the majority of its duration, although Eve proved herself the wilier of the two competitors when she rammed Beth into the ring apron, knocking the wind out of The Glamazon in an attempt to stop the former Divas Champion from gaining momentum. Beth rallied, though, leaving Eve to resort to yet another dubious tactic. Seemingly exaggerating an injury to her midsection, Eve retreated to the ropes until Beth let her guard down before planting The Glamazon with a neckbreaker to seal the contest. Team Hell No vs CM Punk & Dolph Ziggler Looks like Team Hell No is finally getting their groove: the infighting was minimal, the chemistry was strong and the end result was undeniable when the odd-couple champions picked up a win over WWE Champion CM Punk & Mr. Money in the Bank Dolph Ziggler, with Punk himself suffering the deciding pinfall of the evening. There was one wrinkle that did threaten to derail the whole enterprise: Following a tense job evaluation at the hands of her "Executive Coach," AJ Lee decided to prove her mettle as a leader by suiting up in the zebra stripes and taking the referee's job for the evening's main event. But despite her romantic history with the majority of the in-ring competitors, the Raw General Manager called the match fair and down the middle. Punk & Ziggler worked surprisingly well together given their status as an odd couple. Ziggler mounted a strong offense against The Devil's Favorite Demon when he locked the monstrous Tag Champion in a sleeper hold while Punk and Bryan briefly resumed their epic, technical rivalry when the two found themselves in the ring together. The mounting synergy of Team Hell No won out in the end, however, with Kane & Bryan executing a series of tandem moves and, despite a few unwanted tags, displaying a newfound proficiency and protectiveness toward each other. Kane, in particular, seemed incensed when Ziggler attempted to batter Bryan outside the apron. Ultimately, the team that demanded the most validation found itself short when AJ ejected Paul Heyman and Vickie Guerrero. Vickie promptly commanded Ziggler to leave as well and The Showoff, though conflicted, obliged. With Punk left alone in the lion's den, it fell to Kane to spell The Second City Saint's doom with a bone-rattling Chokeslam that left The Voice of the Voiceless staring up at the lights. True to form, Team Hell No couldn't celebrate the victory without a little bit of infighting, as Kane and Bryan resumed their "I'm the Tag Team Champions" back and forth in Raw's closing minutes. It would appear that true harmony (and CM Punk's quest for validation) will have to wait at least one more week. Results * Singles Match: Antonio Cesaro defeated Brodus Clay (w/ Naomi & Cameron) * Singles Match: Eve Torres defeated Beth Phoenix * Tag Team Match: Team Hell No (Kane & Daniel Bryan) defeated CM Punk & Dolph Ziggler (with AJ Lee as Special Guest Referee) Media Category:2012 television episodes Category:RAW episodes Category:AJ Lee Category:Episodes featuring Naomi Category:Cameron Category:Beth Phoenix Category:Episodes featuring Eve Torres Category:Episodes featuring Vickie Guerrero Category:WWE television episodes